Living Villages is an organisation in the United Kingdom established in 1993 as part of The Athena Foundation UK (now dissolved) and as The Living Village Trust in 1997 [1] [2] by Carole Salmon and Bob Tomlinson. [3] The objectives are to encourage sustainable development through appropriate design and ethical commercial practice. The first project of five environmentally friendly houses called Bells Court in Bishops Castle, Shropshire, UK built in 1997, and the 40 house eco-neighbourhood called The Wintles, also in Bishops Castle, were designed to demonstrate that new housing can be eco-friendly, attractive and beneficial to a local community. [4] [5]
Living Villages was established in 1993 as a non-profit, prompted by positive responses to a proposal for an eco-village based on Permaculture principles and design inspired by Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language .[ citation needed ]
They started the Wintles project in 1999 as a new pedestrian neighbourhood with a high degree of self-sufficiency for the town of Bishops Castle on 17 acres which included houses, shared gardens, allotments for food production, woodland and amenity areas which include a labyrinth orchard designed by Keith Critchlow. Architects Pat Borer and David Lee worked on the initial layout with contributions from Christopher Alexander and Leon Krier, but the final designs were produced by Bob Tomlinson and became the working model for the design principles. Ecostruct were the building partners.[ citation needed ]
In 2007, Living Villages won the Housebuilder of the Year Award] for The Wintles. [6]
The Wintles was cited by Planning Minister Nick Boles as one of the UK Government's favourite housing schemes]. [7]
Christopher Wolfgang John Alexander was an Austrian-born British-American architect and design theorist. He was an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His theories about the nature of human-centered design have affected fields beyond architecture, including urban design, software, and sociology. Alexander designed and personally built over 100 buildings, both as an architect and a general contractor.
Highgate is a suburban area of London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, 4+1⁄2 miles north-northwest of Charing Cross.
New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually influenced many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use strategies. New Urbanism attempts to address the ills associated with urban sprawl and post-Second World War suburban development.
The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and former burgh, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and employment opportunities of Glasgow. At its peak, during the 1930s, the wider Gorbals district had swollen in population to an estimated 90 000 residents, giving the area a very high population density of around 40 000/km2. Redevelopment after WWII has taken many turns, and the area's population is substantially smaller today. The Gorbals was also home to 16 high-rise flat blocks; only six are standing as of 2024, and two are planned for demolition.
Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893.
Brightwell-cum-Sotwell is a twin-village and civil parish in the Upper Thames Valley in South Oxfordshire. It lies between Didcot to the west and the historic market town of Wallingford to the east. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire to the county of Oxfordshire, and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire.
Castlemilk is a district of Glasgow, Scotland. It lies to the far south of the city centre, adjacent to the Croftfoot and Simshill residential areas within the city to the north-west, the town of Rutherglen - neighbourhoods of Spittal to the north-east and Fernhill to the east, Linn Park and its golf course to the west, and the separate village of Carmunnock further south across countryside.
Castle Vale is a housing estate located between Erdington, Minworth and Castle Bromwich. Currently Castle Vale makes up the Castle Vale Ward of Birmingham City Council which is part of Erdington constituency, 6 miles (9 km) northeast of Birmingham city centre in England. The area has an approximate population of 10,000 people and has a distinctly modern residential character stemming from its history as a postwar overspill estate.
Adamstown is a planned suburban development in western County Dublin, located circa 16 km from Dublin city centre, in the jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council. The first new town in Ireland since Shannon Town in the 1960s, the development-in-progress is based on a 220 hectare Strategic Development Zone site south of the N4 road and Lucan, west of Liffey tributary the Griffeen River and north of the Grand Canal. No date has been set for the official granting of any specific long-term official status but development is underway since 2005 and as of 2015, perhaps 4,500 of a planned population of 25,000 were resident. As per the 2022 census, the population is just above 10,000. The planned scale of development is 9,000 to 10,000 dwellings, with aligned supporting infrastructure including public transport links.
Fairford Leys is a housing development in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, designed in the urban village style, with the street and block layout making it more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists. The three main developers of the development were bound by a design code to ensure architectural cohesion and this is maintained through covenants on the deeds of each property.
Easterhouse is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, 6 miles (10 km) east of the city centre on land gained from the county of Lanarkshire as part of an expansion of Glasgow before the Second World War. The area is on high ground north of the River Clyde and south of the River Kelvin and Campsie Fells.
A prefabricated building, informally a prefab, is a building that is manufactured and constructed using prefabrication. It consists of factory-made components or units that are transported and assembled on-site to form the complete building. Various materials were combined to create a part of the installation process.
Hackbridge is a suburb in the London Borough of Sutton, south-west London, just over two miles north-east of the town of Sutton itself. It is 8.8 miles (15 km) south-west of Charing Cross.
Croome Court is a mid-18th-century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Upton-upon-Severn in south Worcestershire, England. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for the 6th Earl of Coventry, and they were Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the mansion's rooms were designed by Robert Adam. St Mary Magdalene's Church, Croome D'Abitot that sits within the grounds of the park is now owned and cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.
Eco-towns are a government-sponsored programme of new towns to be built in England, which are intended to achieve exemplary standards of sustainability.
Glasbury, also known as Glasbury-on-Wye, is a village and community in Powys, Wales. The village lies at an important crossing point on the River Wye, connecting the historic counties of Brecknockshire and Radnorshire, and is located just outside the Brecon Beacons National Park, north of the Black Mountains. The village is split between the communities of Glasbury and Gwernyfed. The nearest town is Hay-on-Wye, some 4 miles (6 km) to the north east. The nearest city is Hereford in England, some 25 miles (40 km) to the east. Glasbury is a popular location for river fishing, canoeing and kayaking. The population of Glasbury community in Radnorshire was 994, in 1841 it was 838.
Radburn design housing is a concept for planned housing estates, based upon a design that was originally used in the community of Radburn within Fair Lawn, New Jersey, United States.
A green home is a type of house designed to be environmentally sustainable. Green homes focus on the efficient use of "energy, water, and building materials". A green home may use sustainably sourced, environmentally friendly, and/or recycled building materials. This includes materials like reclaimed wood, recycled metal, and low VOC paints. Additionally, green homes often prioritize energy efficiency by incorporating features, such as high-performance insulation, energy-efficient appliances, and smart home technologies that monitor and optimize energy usage. Water conservation is another important aspect, with green homes often featuring water-saving fixtures, rainwater harvesting systems, and grey water recycling systems to reduce water waste. It may include sustainable energy sources such as solar or geothermal, and be sited to take maximum advantage of natural features such as sunlight and tree cover to improve energy efficiency.
Low-impact development (LID) has been defined as "development which through its low negative environmental impact either enhances or does not significantly diminish environmental quality".
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. Dwellings built for public or social housing use are built by or for local authorities and known as council houses. Since the 1980s non-profit housing associations became more important and subsequently the term "social housing" became widely used, as technically council housing only refers to housing owned by a local authority, though the terms are largely used interchangeably.